Australia's original inhabitants, known as Australian Aborigines, have the longest continuous cultural history in the world, with origins dating back to the last Ice age. Although mystery and debate shroud many aspects of Australian prehistory, it is generally accepted that the first humans travelled across the sea from Indonesia about years ago. Europeans began to invade Australia in the 16 th century: Portuguese navigators were followed by Dutch explorers and the enterprising English pirate William Dampier.

Capitan James Cook sailed the entire length of eastern coast in After rounding Cape York, he claimed the continent for the British and named it New South Wales.

Aborigines were ruthlessly pushed off their tribal lands as new settlers took up land for farming. Unfortunately, many Aborigines continue to live in deplorable conditions.

Australia seasons are the antithesis of those in Europe America (because Australia is south of the Equator): summer starts in December (ends in February), autumn in March (ends in August) and spring in September (ends in November).

Australia has six states—New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia—and two major mainland territories—the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). Australia became a nation when federation of the separate colonies took place on 1 January The separate Australian colonies united and proclaimed themselves the Commonwealth of Australia – a federation of six states.

In Australia, Australian National Flag Day is celebrated on 3 September. Australian national flag consists of white stars of the Southern Cross and the white Commonwealth stars on a blue back-ground with Union Jack that represents the historical link with Britain.

The coat of arms of Australia (formally known as Commonwealth Coat of Arms) is the official symbol of Australia. The initial coat of arms was granted by King Edward VII on 7 May 1908, and the current version was granted by King George V on 19 September 1912, although the 1908 version continued to be used in some contexts, notably appearing on the sixpenny coin until 1966.

The national anthem of Australia is “Advance Australia Fair”. It was adopted in the 1970s.

Area represented Image Common name Australia Red Kangaroo (unofficial) New South Wales Platypus Northern Territory Red Kangaroo QueenslandKoala

South Australia Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat TasmaniaTasmanian Devil (unofficial) VictoriaLeadbeater's possum Western Australia Numbat

Sydney is one of the beautiful city of Australia, the city is famous for opera house, here you can enjoy most of the places where such extraordinary marine aquarium and the Jenolan Caves. Every year thousands of visitors come here to see the beauty. Although Australia has no official language, English is so entrenched that it has become the de facto national language.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district (CBD) and the North Shore. The famous Harbour Bridge is one of the most loved and well-known engineering structures in the world, especially after the Sydney Olympics.

The Great Ocean Road is also one of the beautiful places in Australia, this path provides a variety of beautiful scenery, this road runs more than 200 miles along the coastline in the area of Victoria. Here you can stay in the restaurant and there are several places where you can stay and enjoy its beauty.

Kakadu National Park is also one of the famous and beautiful places in Australia, in this park you can see a variety of wildlife and variety of native plant honesty, if you arrived in Australia should look this park and you will be find it very entertained.

The Rocks is an urban locality, tourist precinct and historic area of Sydney's city centre, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

Tasmania is an Australian cultural city where you can find and view most of the beauty of Australia. This is one of the most famous cities for entertainment where every minute full of fun, if you come in Australia should see this beautiful city.

Kangaroo Island is Australia's third- largest island after Tasmania and Melville Island.

The Murray River (River Murray in South Australia) is Australia's longest river. At 2,995 kilometres (1,861 mi) in length.

Cairns is one of the interesting places in Australia, this is the entry point where you can go for a trip anywhere that you want, and the Great Barrier Reef is one of the largest coral reef. This is one of the best places where you come and will enjoy it.

Australia ranks highly in many international comparisons of national performance, such as quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, and the protection of civil liberties and political rights.